The need to take conventional pharmaceutical tablets with the aid of a fluid can be inconvenient or impractical. For example, it can be quite difficult to administer a convention pharmaceutical tablet to a pediatric, geriatric or schizophrenic patient. Fast disintegrating or dissolving tablets (FDDTs) have received a lot of interest because, unlike conventional tablets, they disintegrate and dissolve rapidly in saliva, thereby eliminating the need to be swallowed with the aid of a fluid. Because of this interest, a variety of technologies have been developed for FDDTs. Some tablets can dissolve in saliva remarkably fast, while others comprise formulations that enhance the rate of tablet disintegration in the oral cavity.
Critical attributes for FDDTs are the tablet friability and taste masking, as well as the disintegration or dissolution rate. Usually, the ability to quickly disintegrate or dissolve compromises a tablet's hardness, thereby increasing the difficulty associated with handling. Taste masking is characteristic of FDDTs. Current methods of taste masking with FDDTs include use of sweeteners and flavors, adsorption onto or complexation with carriers, and coacervation and spray coating of drug particles.
Some FDDT technologies also claim an increased bioavailability compared to conventional tablets. Because of rapid tablet disintegration or dissolution in saliva, a large fraction of the pharmaceutical agent contained within the tablet can be absorbed in buccal and pharyngeal regions, thereby minimizing the pre-systemic degradation of the agent. Increased bioavailability may result for pharmaceutical agents that ordinarily experience extensive first pass metabolism.
There remains a need in the art for new rapidly disintegrating tablets that provide fast onset for pharmaceutical agents which, e.g., can be handled without fracturing and manufactured using conventional oral tablet compression.